Barcelona interested in Manchester City and La Roja centre-back Aymeric Laporte

Barcelona are interested in Manchester City centre-back and newly-minted La Roja international Aymeric Laporte according to Diario Sport. The Blaugrana have been active so far this transfer market, bringing in Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia and Emerson already.

Centre-back is a position Barcelona are well-stocked in, but there’s an expectation that Samuel Umtiti will move on and a replacement will come in for him. This is where Laporte comes in; he’s fallen out of favour at City, with Pep Guardiola preferring to field the rock-solid defensive pairing of Ruben Dias and John Stones instead.

Laporte, who’ll be an important part of Luis Enrique’s squad at this summer’s Eurocopa, has been a target of Barcelona’s since he was at Athletic Bilbao, the club City took him from for €65m in January of 2018. Sergi Roberto has been linked with a move from Barcelona to City, with Guardiola an admirer. That ability to trade could be key as both Barcelona and City look to inject new blood into their respective sides.